


Katherine Vance One-Shots Collection

by radbeetle



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:26:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24398725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/radbeetle/pseuds/radbeetle
Summary: assorted one-shots about my Sole Survivor, Katherine Vance, presented in no particular order
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	1. Factory

Katherine leaned against the railing along the roof of the packing plant. A flickering neon sign in the distance had caught her eye - and the illuminated name had stopped her in her tracks. The scenery had changed so much over the past two centuries she hadn't even realized where she was.

She stared across at the half-dimmed sign atop the General Atomics factory building as a wave of... something passed over her. Nostalgia? No, not quite. Sadness. Melancholy. Thoughts of the days she had spent on-site. 

Thoughts of the day the bombs dropped.

That day, so long ago, yet still fresh in her mind, her job would have taken her back to the factory floor. Kate shuddered. What would have happened to her, had the bombs dropped even a few hours later?

She knew how that story would have ended. This didn't stop her from playing it out in her head, over and over. Two hours later, and she could have died inside in an instant.

What remained inside, she wondered. Ruined components, interrupted production lines... the bodies of people she knew, people she had worked with. Maybe not just bodies.

A voice behind her snapped Katherine out of the thoughts she was lost in.

"We should get going before the weather worsens. Vance? ... Katherine?"

Her head snapped back and she looked over her shoulder, back towards Danse. There was just a hint of concern on his face. She sighed. "Sorry. You're right."

"You seem distracted. Is something bothering you?" Katherine was always distracted, to a certain degree, but this was different. Danse didn't often see her like this. He knew something was off.

She turned around to face him, resting her weight on the yellow safety rail behind her. There was a benefit to Danse's power armor being temporarily out of commission - Kate didn't need to look up to make eye contact. It made conversations just that littlest bit easier. She sighed and tightened her grip on the railing. "It's the factory." She tilted her head to indicate the building now behind her.

"General Atomics. A pre-war manufacturer of robots such as... oh." Katherine's life before the war, her time in the cryopod... Danse had always found it an incredible tale, but he had seen the proof. He was disgusted by the things Vault-Tec had done. Kate's history and knack for the mechanical lead him to a reasonable conclusion - "You must have some history with this company."

She snorted. "Well, that's one way of putting it." Katherine looked to the side, turning thoughts over in her head, trying to figure out exactly what to say. "I worked there. I mean, not all the time, but... I knew the people there. People who probably died in that building... and it was two hundred years ago." She put her face in her hands, trying to hide the hint of tears welling in her eyes. "It was still just months ago for me. And I keep... things keep reminding me of how long it's been, how much everything's changed." She rubbed her face and leaned back, staring up at the clouds. "I don't know how to deal with that."

Danse was quiet. He certainly wasn't expecting this outpouring of emotions; it wasn't his area of expertise. "I doubt there's anyone out there who could relate. You're in quite a unique situation..." he trailed off for a moment, looking for those next words. "I'm sure this can't be easy for you. I know I don't have any advice for someone in your position." He shifted his weight as those words hung in the air. It took him a few moments to find his next words. "I wish it were different. I wish I had something to say. Some way to help."

Katherine closed her eyes and shook her head. "No. It's... it's okay. I guess there's really nothing to be done. That's... that's the answer to a lot of my problems. Just can't do anything about them." It wasn't the answer either of them wanted, really, but she knew there wasn't a way to change that. "I don't really want to dwell on the past, but it's hard not to, some days."

"Look, I'm - I'm sorry, Danse, you don't need to hear all this from me. It's not what you signed up for."

"There's a lot I didn't sign up for. You get used to that, with the Brotherhood." His awkward chuckle served as evidence he was trying to lighten the mood.

"I guess. But I figure that's along the lines of firefights and frag grenades, not feelings."

"Maybe. But it's clear to me that you have a lot on your mind, and if you need to offload that... well, I'll listen. A soldier's mental state is just as important as their physical."

Katherine scoffed. "I'm no soldier, Danse. I'm about as far from that as someone could be."

"The point I'm making still stands."

Katherine mumbled her hesitant assent. "Mm. Suppose you're right." She ran her fingers across the chipped yellow rails, and followed them towards the stairs. They had been out here in the rain for far too long, and the skies were still darkening. "I just feel kinda bad. Gotta save this stuff for someone prepared to deal with it."

"Let me know when you find that person. The Brotherhood doesn't have many therapists among its ranks."

She paused, and cast a quick glance over her shoulder. "Sounds like you had a reason to go asking about that." Only a moment had passed before she looked forward again, and hurried down the rest of the stairs.

The paladin kept pace, though a few steps behind. He was quick to dismiss her words. "That would be a discussion for another day."

Katherine suspected that day had been put off for a long time - and would continue to be put off.


	2. Jackpot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From a prompt I got on Tumblr - wanted to see Kate and Deacon running a missing. so here's that!

“And you’re sure this is where the cache is, Deacon?”

“Everything we got says Medford Memorial.”

“I swear I’ve waved this dang card at every square inch of this place.” Katherine slumped against the stairwell wall, and took a deep breath. “I am not made for this much running around.” She groaned.

Deacon kicked idly at a fallen ceiling tile, watching it clatter down the stairs they had just climbed. He chuckled. “Count yourself lucky that there’s just one floor left, then.”

“Uuuuugh.” Every fiber of her being wanted to complain. Loudly.

Given the previous occupants of the building, though… that might now be the wisest course of action.

“Good thing we haven’t seen any super mu-”

“DEACON.” Kate was quick to interrupt him. “Don’t finish that thought, please. You _know_ that’s gonna jinx us.”

“Alright, alright. I won’t say another word.”

“You’re welcome to let me know if you find this damn cache.”

The third floor seemed as empty as the rest, and Katherine was beginning to wonder if this entire trip was going to end with them leaving, unsuccessful and empty handed.

She suppressed the urge to shout into the dusty halls, and instead slouched backwards, slamming herself against the wall in frustration.

A soft _kt-chhh_ caught her off guard as the wall started moving behind her, sliding to the left. She stumbled, catching herself and bouncing away from the previously hidden door.

“You think that’s the cache? Looks like your butt was better at finding it than the both of us.”

Kate sputtered, though Deacon cut her off with a laugh before she could get a response out. “Hey, chill, I’m just giving you a hard time. The important thing is, we found it, and we might even get back in time for supper!”

“Let’s - uh, let’s… let me just take a look at this stuff.” She turned away to investigate the hidden shelves. Lots of ammo, a few first aid kits… a pair of stealth boys. “Listen Deacon, I know Des said to leave it here for the runners, but I - I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I’ve seen people travelling through this place. Gunners, scavengers, people who’d clear this stuff out and sell it for caps.”

“You’ve got a point.”

“At the very least we should put it somewhere a little more hidden.” She tossed a stealth boy to Deacon. “There was a janitor’s closet back on the first floor that was pretty out of the way.”

“Well, let’s not waste any more time. Took long enough to find this, and I’d rather not meet the folks who stayed here previously.”

Katherine grimaced. Last time she had passed by the hospital, it had been occupied by a gang of super mutants. There were still telltale signs of their presence scattered around. Blood and gore smeared across the floor, bags of rotten meat, and makeshift cages.

“How ‘bout we don’t think about them?”


	3. Mannequin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another one from a tumblr prompt of 'Did that mannequin move?'

Haymarket mall. They had passed through… oh, about two weeks ago, on the tip that a gang of raiders had holed up inside. A brief, heated firefight had cleared them out that day, and now Katherine was back to make sure the place had stayed empty.

She sighed, and leaned back against the wall, bumping her glasses up to her forehead as she rubbed her face.

“Is everything ok?” Danse’s voice came from somewhere to her right. The paladin was not stealthy - not in power armor, for sure, but that was her entire reasoning for asking him to come along. To make a show of force, in case anyone had tried to occupy the location again.

“Yeah. Just been a long day. Not sure I’ve got it in me to get back to Diamond City after this. Might just rent a room in Goodneighbor.”

Danse scrunched up his face in disapproval. “You know I won’t stop you, but I will recommend against it.”

Katherine pushed herself back to her feet, making her way up to the second floor, hand on the staircase rail. “Well, are you going to carry me back to Diamond City?”

“If it comes down to it, yes.”

“Hmm. Might take you up on that.”

The second floor of the mall was poorly lit; whatever generator the raiders had rigged up to light the place had run dry in the days since they were last here.

Katherine grimaced, squinting through the darkness, trying to make sense of silhouettes and shapes. “What I wouldn’t give for a better set of eyes…” she murmured.

There were a few moments spent picking steps through the rubble, before Danse spoke up behind her. “Your pip-boy has a flashlight, I believe.”

Kate bit her lip. Yes, in fact, it did, and she was more annoyed with herself for forgetting that, than she was with Danse for his reminder. Her fingers, wrapped in metal, fumbled across the buttons and dials of the device. The interlaced mechanics of her brace made her imprecise, at best. Fingers too big for what she wanted to do.

“Hold up -” Danse’s voice was quiet, but sudden. There was a hint of tension to it, one that was unfamiliar enough to Katherine that she didn’t process it until after she had activated the light.

It flickered to life in half a second, bathing the area around them in a pallid glow. Katherine glanced up, turning to face Danse, and flinched. Behind them both stood a dozen mannequins, arranged loosely in a half circle. The shapes in the darkness she had been trying to make sense of. She had never been particularly unsettled by the mannequins themselves, but it was far, far too easy to startle her with anything, when it wasn’t something she expected to be there.

Though, it occurred to her, this was a mall. A logical place to find them.

She opened her mouth to ask Danse a question, and he held up a finger to shush her. “Wait.”

She waited, with a hesitant “um.”

The paladin’s stare was intense, directed at the cluster of mannequins, and the stark shadows they cast upon the wall behind them.

“There.” He declared.

“Where - what?”

“That one. It just moved. I swear it.”

“Danse.” Katherine held her breath, despite herself. They were just mannequins, yes, but Danse was not one to joke. Definitely not about this sort of thing.

“The third one on the left.”

Katherine lifted her arm in an attempt to light the scene more clearly - and, as she did so, the mannequin seemed to twitch, the shadow behind it echoing the subtle motion.

She scuttled backwards as Danse lifted his laser rifle. The change in lighting as Kate and her pip-boy pulled away prompted another burst of motion as the mannequin toppled, and that sudden movement was enough for Danse to fire a trio of shots towards the plastic figures.

From the toppled pile of mannequins emerged a single radroach, wings fluttering as it darted across the room, making a path for new cover.

Katherine put a stop to that with the heel of her boot, crushing the creature’s head. She grabbed one of its rear legs, and held it up, dangling, as she looked over to Danse.

“Well, it wasn’t a mannequin, I guess.”

“If you tell any of the Brotherhood about this, I’ll have you blacklisted.”


End file.
